The present invention is directed to air conditioners and, more particularly, to a protective grille for the condenser coil of an air conditioner.
Air conditioning units such as so called "window room air conditioners" are commonly used for residential and similar applications and generally include closed refrigeration circuits having an evaporator and a condenser. The unit is normally divided by a partition into an evaporator section and a condenser section. The evaporator section communicates with the room air to be conditioned and the condenser section communicates with external air such as outdoor air. Refrigerant flows through a refrigerant circuit absorbing heat from room air at the evaporator and discharging heat energy to the external air at the condenser. The conventional refrigerated circuit is completed by the addition of a compressor, an expansion device and the appropriate interconnections between the components.
Such an air conditioning unit usually includes a basepan supporting all of the components and an outer housing surrounding the entire unit. The front of the evaporator, or indoor section, includes an indoor grille, which has openings therein for directing warm indoor air into the evaporator and discharge openings therein for directing air back into the room. The outdoor section of the housing includes a plurality of openings in the sides and top thereof, which serve as inlet openings for cooling air which flows into the outdoor section and outwardly therefrom after passing through the condenser coil, which is mounted vertically in the back of the outdoor section.
Because the condenser coil includes a multitude of fragile heat exchange fins thereon, protective louvers or a grille of some sort is commonly provided to overlie the back of the condenser coil to protect the fins from damage. It is common practice in larger air conditioning units for the back of the housing of the unit to be substantially open and for the protective grille to be formed from a plurality of perpendicularly extending wire segments, which are welded to wall sections forming the perimeter of the back of the housing. Such grilles must be welded to the housing prior to applying the finished paint coat to the housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,505, "Snap-in Grille For An Air Conditioner Housing", is assigned to the assignee of the present invention and relates to a flexible protective grille having spaced edges which include outward extensions, which are adapted to be received in conformations formed in the air conditioner housing. While the design of the '505 patent provides a simple snap-in installation, it still requires welding of the various components of the grille as well as metal forming of the conformations adapted to receive the attaching portions of the grille.